1. An Industry Under Attack

Stephen Dunn / Hartford Courant

The suspense was long over by noon on April 4, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed what is arguably the nation's strictest gun control law, vastly expanding the list of banned firearms and adding registration requirements for rifles. It was a disappointment for the handful of gunmakers in Connecticut upholding a 200-year tradition, and some threatened to leave for friendlier states. The law roiled the local gun industry and created confusion, at least until everyone sorted out the 160 pages that had been barely read by lawmakers. In reality, there never was much of a battle over the law as Malloy excluded the industry from his task force after a shooter killed his mother, 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown. One of the gunmakers, PTR Industries of Bristol, announced its exit. Others, including Colt's Manufacturing Co., Stag Arms and O.F. Mossberg, and magazine-maker Ammunition Storage Components, all flooded with offers from other states, said they would most likely look elsewhere for future growth. CAPTION: Slawek Ogomowski of New Britain, an assembler at STAG Arms, performs a final check on the barrel of an AR15 modern sporting rifle with a laser scope at the STAG firearms manufacturing facility in New Britain.

The suspense was long over by noon on April 4, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed what is arguably the nation's strictest gun control law, vastly expanding the list of banned firearms and adding registration requirements for rifles. It was a disappointment for the handful of gunmakers in Connecticut upholding a 200-year tradition, and some threatened to leave for friendlier states. The law roiled the local gun industry and created confusion, at least until everyone sorted out the 160 pages that had been barely read by lawmakers. In reality, there never was much of a battle over the law as Malloy excluded the industry from his task force after a shooter killed his mother, 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown. One of the gunmakers, PTR Industries of Bristol, announced its exit. Others, including Colt's Manufacturing Co., Stag Arms and O.F. Mossberg, and magazine-maker Ammunition Storage Components, all flooded with offers from other states, said they would most likely look elsewhere for future growth. CAPTION: Slawek Ogomowski of New Britain, an assembler at STAG Arms, performs a final check on the barrel of an AR15 modern sporting rifle with a laser scope at the STAG firearms manufacturing facility in New Britain. (Stephen Dunn / Hartford Courant)

The suspense was long over by noon on April 4, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed what is arguably the nation's strictest gun control law, vastly expanding the list of banned firearms and adding registration requirements for rifles. It was a disappointment for the handful of gunmakers in Connecticut upholding a 200-year tradition, and some threatened to leave for friendlier states. The law roiled the local gun industry and created confusion, at least until everyone sorted out the 160 pages that had been barely read by lawmakers. In reality, there never was much of a battle over the law as Malloy excluded the industry from his task force after a shooter killed his mother, 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown. One of the gunmakers, PTR Industries of Bristol, announced its exit. Others, including Colt's Manufacturing Co., Stag Arms and O.F. Mossberg, and magazine-maker Ammunition Storage Components, all flooded with offers from other states, said they would most likely look elsewhere for future growth. CAPTION: Slawek Ogomowski of New Britain, an assembler at STAG Arms, performs a final check on the barrel of an AR15 modern sporting rifle with a laser scope at the STAG firearms manufacturing facility in New Britain.